hypotheticaltornadoesfandomcom-20200214-history
Tornado Outbreak of May 23-24, 2020
The Tornado Outbreak of May 23-24, 2020 '''is considered the most destructive Oklahoma outbreak on record, with several strong-violent tornadoes and numerous fatalities that occurred from the night of the 23rd of May until the morning of the following day. '''Meteorological Synopsis An upper level storm system associated with an upper level trough came down from Canada on May 22nd and rapidly intensified and went negative tilted. With that, in the lower levels, a surface low rapidly formed over north-eastern New Mexico and produced numerous severe thunderstorms with damaging winds in excess of 70 mph and golfball size hail over the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. An isolated supercell encountered an outflow boundary left by another storm to its north and produced the first tornado some time after midnight over northwestern Oklahoma. This first tornado caused also the first four fatalities of the storm. As morning progressed, the surface low deepened and moved over southwestern Kansas. Air was extremely unstable, with over 5000 J/kg in CAPE, and this, combined with an unexistent CAP made the environment perfect for the early development of severe storms. However, low level helicity was unfavorable for a significant tornado outbreak. To the experts' surprise, a local enhancement of 0-1 km SHR (created by a bulge along the dryline) over northwestern Oklahoma and over southwestern Oklahoma not predicted by models made the enviroment perfect for a violent series of tornadoes. This also made the SPC change their Day 1 Convective Outlook, bringing it from an hail-driven Enhanced Risk to a tornado-driven High Risk. During the morning hours, the SPC issued a PDS Tornado Watch for all of west-central Oklahoma, then updated and re-issued for the evening and night hours. The first supercells formed over northwestern Oklahoma and put down the first tornadoes in the morning, followed by a series of lonely supercells over southwestern Oklahoma. As the afternoon arrived, storms kept getting worse and stronger, putting down several more tornadoes before dark. During the night, a tornado touched down and went on to destroy areas near Canton and the town of Wakita. At the same time, two slow moving supercells to the south formed and then converged after several hours and a few weak tornadoes, forming one big supercell, that produced the last tornado of the outbreak during the morning hours of May 24th. Overall, the outbreak was the second largest tornado outbreak in the history of Oklahoma right after October 4th, 1998 (which brought 26 tornadoes to the State instead of 25) but it was the most expensive with over 5 billion dollars in damage (mostly due to the Silverton and Wakita tornadoes) and the deadliest, with 112 fatalities and over 800 injuries (most of them were caused by the Wakita tornado). It also became the first outbreak in Oklahoma to have produced tornadoes almost constantly for over 24 hours in the same areas. Notable Tornadoes Silverton area Tornadoes The Silverton area, in southwestern Oklahoma, was the hardest hit by the event, with 9 different tornadoes passing through the city, some of them being on the ground at the same time and following the same paths. The tornadoes were well documented up close by a team of storm chasers. The first tornado to strike Silverton was an EF3 that hit during the morning hours. It touched down west-southwest of town and moved towards the north, destroying an entire farmstead and metal power trusses in the process. The tornado then turned sharply towards the east-northeast, heading towards Silverton. There, the high school, where a cerimony was taking place, took a direct hit. Most of the roof and second floor of the building was destroyed and numerous vehicles included a school bus were flipped or picked up and destroyed. The tornado then struck a nearby subdivision and numerous homes were destroyed. There, four people were injured, but no fatalities were reported. Before dissipating, the tornado destroyed an abandoned factory where two people had to be rescued after being submerged in water from a broken pipe for several hours. The second supercell produced two tornadoes in the downtown area, an EF2 and a EF1. The main tornado picked up a truck and slammed it back almost hitting a bank, where the roof was severely damaged. A concrete building was almost destroyed as well, preventing an EF3 rating. Numerous light poles were downed. Meanwhile, a satellite tornado briefly touched down, making a moving car slam against two other parked cars and flipping another one on top of them. A brick canopy was destroyed as well as a traffic light pole. A third funnel was noticed in the area, but never touched the ground. A third supercell passed through the area putting down four contemporary tornadoes as it translated into a multicellular thunderstorm with four different mesovorticies. One of the tornadoes was the first violent twister of the outbreak. The tornadoes were small, quick and with erratic paths and classified as EF4, EF3 and the other two EF1. The EF3 destroyed three homes in a subdivision of the town and the EF4 wiped out a car dealership and threw numerous cars. A petroleum truck was also picked up and thrown and the hit made the petrol come out of the vehicle. It then caught fire after a car thrown by one of the two EF1s hit a power pole. The other EF1, which was a multiple vortex tornado, remained almost stationary, causing damage to trees. The three longer lived tornadoes then became almost stationary as well, killing a cameraman and destroying more vehicles. A nearby church suffered severe roof damage and several windows blew up. The last supercell hit during the mid-afternoon hours and put down a mile wide tornado, which immediately started throwing trees in the air and destroying homes. Then a satellite tornado touched the ground and after a couple of minutes, it merged with the main funnel, making it the largest tornado of the outbreak, with a width of about 2 miles. While the satellite tornado earned an EF2 rating because of severe tree damage, the main tornado gained an EF5 rating, making it the first incredible tornado of the event. The tornado tracked right through the areas hit by the morning EF3, destroying what remained of the high school. A metal power line was downed away from this multiple vortex tornado. The airport was also struck and swept clean, with 747s being lifted in the air and a building site was completely destroyed by the wind and by trucks and trees thrown around by the tornado. This violent EF5 killed 19 people and injured 54. Among the deaths, was a storm chaser who was thrown in the air and slammed back to the ground with his armored vehicle. Overall, in the Silverton area 20 people were killed and 58 were injured, with over 4 billion dollars worth of damage, 3.5 of them due to the EF5 alone. Canton - Wakita Tornado This violent nighttime tornado touched the ground just southwest of the city of Canton and started moving north-northeast. The tornado struck the northern part of Canton, destroying several roofs and downing trees at EF2 force. Then the tornado and the entire mesocyclone weakened, leading to the cancellation of the tornado warning previously issued for the counties of Dewey, Blaine and Major. The tornado though was still on the ground and gained strength as it approached the city of Fairview. Once the twister and mesocyclone strengthened on the radar screens of the National Weather Service, a Tornado Emergency was issued for the area. Lightning started illuminating the tornado as it approached a drive-in east of town. There, the outdoor screen was swept clean, an auto mechanic building was destroyed and several cars were thrown. Then the tornado moved over rural Oklahoma, passing near the towns of Helena, Goltry and Nash and turning to the northeast, directly towards the town of Wakita. The city took a direct hit at EF4 strength. All 86 fatalities occurred in the town because, upon reaching town, the tornado knocked down power lines and the warning sirens couldn't sound. The Grant County EMA managed to manually turn on the sirens, but just seconds before the tornado hit. The twister then dissipated just northeast of the city. 97% of the buildings in Wakita were severely damaged or destroyed, with the east section of town being the hardest hit. Here, numerous poorly build homes were swept clean and many more lost all the walls except the interior ones. Well build homes lost their first floors, cars were thrown, mangled beyond recognition and wrapped around trees. Numerous brick building in downtown Wakita were destroyed but not swept clean, preventing an EF5 rating. Southwest of town, a couple of farmsteads were struck, with the main buildings destroyed at EF3 strength and numerous crops were scoured. Wooden power poles were snapped at their bases and trees were debarked for the 75% of their bodies. 784 people were injured. Loyal - Morrison Tornado This tornado was the last one of the outbreak and the second EF5 of the event. It touched the ground during the morning hours of May 24th near the town of Loyal, after two nighttime supercells merged after putting down a few weak tornadoes over western Oklahoma. From there, the tornado tracked over open country but managed to swept clean several well build brick homes in numerous farmsteads and dig 2 feet deep, 15 feet long ditches in a couple of spots in fields, taking aloft dirt, mud and crops. The most considerable damage was found in the latter two thirds of the tornado's path. In fact, a petroleum truck was thrown and made explode on the road, a radio transmission tower was swept clean, a farm equipment store was completely blown away, with several tractors and combine harvesters picked up, mangled beyond recognition and put back down several miles away, a well build home was taken off from the foundations and rolled on the road and an entire farmstead was demolished, with only the main house left standing with EF1 damage, while everything else was swept clean. Power poles were snapped at their bases and reduced to splinters, trees were completely debarked and snapped at their bases and entire crops and grass fields were stripped from the ground. Several cars were picked up and mangled beyond recognition, with a Dodge Ram truck still missing. The tornado injured 12 people and killed two. The two fatalities were two storm chasers that were following the tornado on a track parallel to the path of the twister, to the northeast, but the tornado took a right turn to the east-northeast, picking up the truck with the chasers inside and throwing it in a field, making it explode. Confirmed Tornadoes